The Mythos Threat - Hastur, Ithaqua and Yig
HASTUR And then there are other Kings. Hastur's following has never had the global influence of Cthulhu or Shubb-Niggurath, even though some consider the former to be Hastur's rival and Shubb-Niggurath to be Hastur's 'wife'. It seems to be a god that takes on many aspects and no-one is sure which aspect speaks more truth than the others. Hastur the Unspeakable is unknowable, but some of its masks have become iconic over the centuries. Throughout history there have been times when the story of the King in Yellow has become gained popularity (or notoriety), and immediately preceding the Fall was one of those times, thanks to obscure references to the play in a number of pseudo-intellectual films. Similarly The Yellow Sign became iconic during much of the chaos following the Fall, where it appeared as graffiti in numerous trouble spots (mostly around Europe) in the short period before the final war tore apart civilisation. Certain Hastur cultists take pride in claiming that the Fall was their doing, but the truth is that the cults simply had a hand in stirring up much of the chaos that bloomed immediately after the Fall. In the year 400 there is little evidence, however, to prove otherwise. Even though the various world governments can pinpoint the Fall to Moscow, they don't really know the details. Who's to say an anarchist cell were not responsible? The bulk of Hastur cultists are linked through their use of the Yellow Sign. The Sign has, however, been linked to politically active groups since the time of the Fall, although it rarely takes the place of the more recognised symbols of major world religions from the same period. In Polity occupied Europe the Yellow Sign is often used by small cells, often those with lots of vision but very little covert knowledge, little aware of the effect the Sign has on them. Over time they too are welcomed to the fold, but rather than exchange their political agendas for the worship of Hastur they simply change their world view to accommodate him. Many never hear the name Hastur, nor encounter anything that they'd be able to recognise as alien and inhuman, simply experiencing his influence as their sense of reality begins to stagnate and pool around them, like a smothering dream. The most long-lived group, taking the symbol of the Yellow Sign as their name perhaps because they have lost all other sense of identity, arrange assassinations of key personnel and destroy facilities they consider dangerous to the people. Although similar groups like this rarely get time to formulate a plan before the Polity has come down on them, the Paris based organisation 'Le Panneau Jaune' work from the shadows, manipulating others to be their puppets and weapons. They have compiled a list of men they consider loyal to their cause, mostly through bribery or blackmail of one sort or other. Once shown the Sign they can be expected to fall into line, commit any act and maybe even take the fall for it. At the last estimate there were a thousand men across Europe at their disposal. Their counterparts in Amerika are lost amongst religionist groups that rally together under the Yellow Sign (or their own distorted renderings of it), more militant units that brave the wilderness. But Amerika is also home to the original Brothers of the Yellow Sign, the cult that abandoned the subterranean world of K'n-Yan to spread the worship of Hastur above ground. They've also got an agenda to disrupt the machinations of the Mi-go, which has much to do with their ancestors fleeing the surface world to escape the 'sky devils'. Given their immortality it may be the self-same exiles that now return to reclaim the earth, and a human race altered by Mi-go experimentation. It's entirely possible that the Brothers don't appreciate the Mi-go's attempts to manipulate mankind because it's too close to their own plans, even if the methodology is drastically different. The Keepers of the Yellow Sign, a small tribe occupying the outskirts of Knoxville, have come to Polity attention several times in recent years. Frequently seen in severe black and yellow outfits, hair shaven, and looking almost like militant monks, they are known both for guerrilla tactics and the fact that they’ve managed to broadcast radio messages meant to stir other local factions against the oppressive Polity empire. Often these broadcasts subtly disrupt the subconcious, bringing on altered states inspired by the political messages they hide behind. The Keepers also have connection to the aforementioned Brothers of the Yellow Sign, meaning they’re vaguely aware of other Mythos threats, as well as having a few key members with unexplainable abilities. Though most of these cults revere the Yellow Sign, only a few follow the King in Yellow, either the play or the title character, a foreboding and wrathful figure. Much is spoken of the mysterious realm of Carcosa that the King brings with him, absorbing those cities on which he has passed his judgement. Some cults are dedicated to drawing the King to this earthly plain and, with him, the mysterious, maddening, magical, terrifying reality of Carcosa, but there seem to be a multitude of methods being employed to this end. It should also be noted that it rare to find individuals that choose to worship Hastur in this aspect amongst the cannibal tribes, but that makes it all the more terrifying to stumble upon the followers of the King in Yellow who later reveal such tendencies. Carcosa is a mystery unto itself. Some claim that it once existed in what is now the Gobi Desert, and indeed the stories of the court of the King in Yellow stretch back to ancient times, allowing sufficient time to pass for the city to have been buried beneath the sands. And yet some claim that it exists somewhere out in the depths of space, near the star of Aldebaran, and that Carcosa is trapped in a cycle of torturous events, for all eternity. Either of these might be truth, or even both. Hastur has an uneasy relationship with the truth. One truth tells of a cold distant rocky planet, orbited by two dying suns, with little signs of life from afar. Black winged creatures crawl in and out of holes in the barren crust of this large rock, creatures sometimes identified as Byakhee. Here the clouds hang heavy with moisture, laying close to the surface of this planet, pooling in dips and craters. At the edge of one of these craters sits a small Polity colony, slowly processing the chemicals in the atmosphere into something the colonists can use, such as fresh air and water. Those that have lived here the longest, oblivious to the creatures lurking in the caverns and hives beneath the surface of this planet, have beautifully decadent dreams, in which the planet is re-imagined as the setting of an incredible city, filled with sights that should never be dreamed. This retreat, visited mostly by high level party members, is commonly known as ‘Demhe’. Here, on this barren planet in the Hyades, Carcosa appears much as it has in the dreams of mad men and tortured souls. The planet itself is just an empty shell of a planet now, its inhabitants twisted parodies of anything that once lived here; but this rock has it’s own Dreamlands reflection, and in this Dreamlands that Carcosa lives on, the Court of Queen Cassilda forever falling before the Court of the King in Yellow. And yet here are stories of another great city much closer to home, an ancient city that stands tall on the shore of a great lake that seems more mist than water, where the people of a royal family enact their final days, over and over again. But this isn’t Carcosa; this is Chicago in the year 400, home to the Imperial Dynasty of America, that trace their lineage back to the court of Carcosa. The city itself has survived remarkably well, as if frozen in the midst of decay. Tall tower blocks and skyscrapers can be seen for miles away, drawing the curious in, most of which succumb to the same delusion that most of the inhabitants seem to experience, that this great city is the last city left in the world. The last city except for ghostly Carcosa, that can sometimes be seen across the lake, it’s spires tapering off behind the moon… The Citizens of Chicago, totaling maybe 300 people, are all lost in the surreal dream of the Imperial Dynasty of America. The Imperial Dynasty is taken from a vast volume that traces its line from Carcosa, through an alternative earth timeline that doesn’t quite match with recorded history – indeed, those who’ve fallen under the spell of the city believe Chicago the last remaining city in the world, since the Final War. And to a degree the alien nature of the city supports this, standing tall and proud where it should have long ago succumbed to the ravages of time. Those few that can retain their free will within the city inadvertently cause destruction, walls and sometimes buildings collapsing in huge clouds of choking yellow dust, as they should have done years ago. The Citizens are largely unaware of the details of the Imperial Dynasty, even though many of them have titles themselves. Neither do they recognise Hastur. The monarch of the Imperial Dynasty do, however. It is their fear of the King in Yellow that grants him power, for when his Sign is brought into the city, as it undoubtedly will be some day, the true King will come, and claim Chicago as his own. It’s not clear what has happened to Lake Michigan, but it does seem to be covered with a freezing damp white mist. It’s hard to tell if there’s water beneath, as the mist obscures everything, even sound, and the mists soaks into anything passing through it as well as any water. Sometimes great shapes can be shifting through the cloudy mass, but it’s not known what they are. Needless to say, the lake is the centre of a great deal of Hastur worship, almost as if the Great Old One lies dreaming within it, much as Cthulhu does in Pacifica. Indeed, many tribes worship him in the same manner, their dreams disturbed by his presence, their waking thoughts dedicated to him and the sacrifices they make to him. Most prominent of these tribes are the Speechless – of St. Joseph – who speak only in prayer and to request blessings in their ritual slaughter. Another, the Heralds of Hastur (based out of Milwaukee), proclaim that the Great Old One is, in fact, a force of entropy that was once on par with Shubb Niggurath, but has now ascended to even greater power in these end times, and that the way should be paved for his coming. And yet another group, known as the Forgotten, worship Hastur as a symbol of their own insanity, and are descended from the inhabitants of an asylum left to it’s own devices in the wars following the Fall. The lunatics therein, both original and those descended from them, managed to carve out their own niche in the wilderness before being led by the wisest of them towards the Great Lake, and now reside in the ruins of Indiana State Prison, Michigan City. If indeed Hastur now inhabits our own planet, it may well be that Chicago is the rightful heir to Carcosa. But whether it is the reign of the King in Yellow or that of a totally unnameable entropic force is yet to be seen. ITHAQUA Ithaqua has always held sway over much of the northern hemisphere, although due to the hostile environment his worship has been relatively small. This has not changed since The Fall, although there is some speculation amongst a number of cultists that his influence has spread, Ithaqua being one of the more active of the Great Old Ones, one more likely to take a personal interest in the affairs of men and the spread of his cult. Ithaqua is keen, it seems, to urge on the end times, and it may well have had a hand in much of the change in the planet's environment. One common trait amongst those who actively worship Ithaqua, as opposed to those that try to avoid his wrath, is cannibalism. Always a possible means to survival in the cruel frozen north, it is a habit increasingly common amongst the desperate, and it would seem that the majority of tribes that worship the demonic Great Old Ones now adhere to this practice. Admitedly, whilst many of the tribes that have spread across the globe have inherited their bloody diets from Tcho Tcho culture, those who have taken up cannibalism simply to survive owe more to the desperate cults linked to Ithaqua. The strongest tribes dedicated heart and soul to Ithaqua are based around Canada, and much as the untamed forests have spread down into what used to be the United States and taken hold of the crumbling ruins of civilisation, so have the cold winds swept down from the north, and the cannibals that follow Ithaqua. The main thing that has halted their progress much further south is the resistance of other tribes. Whilst many take losses in the fight against the northern cannibals, tribes dedicated to Shubb Niggurath have very much held their ground in the deep forests. The skirmishes are bloody, but short. Neither side has great resentment for the other since both are well aware of the patronage the other has. They're also well aware that this is not a battle over values or view-points. It's simply a fight for survival. The main traits that seem to be shared by all those under Ithaqua is an ability to survive all the elements can throw at them, though specifically the colder and wetter weather. Those who offer the Great Old One the correct reverence - and some suggest cannibalism is as much ritual as necessity - are in many ways as much wild animal as human. Whilst Shubb Niggurath's brood take on the features of herd animals and lustful hooved animals, those who follow the Wendigo develop the fangs and teeth of a true predator, and often the thick pelts to enable them to cross miles of frozen tundra in search of food. It is usually the stronger men of the tribes that will be encountered further south. The weaker members of the tribes are usually fed as the result of great raiding parties, often sweeping through whole settlements across the north of Amerika, but the Polity is more likely to run into small 'packs' of cannibals, claiming just what food they need to survive on. It probably goes without saying that those who come furthest south tend not only to strip their victims' flesh from the bones, but also all salvageable equipment from their corpses too. It's all about survival. It is a mistake to dismiss the cannibals as animals, since their very need to survive has meant they have learned to use all technology, old and new, they come across. One of the larger tribes has a heritage that stretches back to the pre-Fall settlement of Stillwater, long wiped off the map by what they claim was Ithaqua's wrath. The people of Stillwater were weak in those days, unable to keep their promises of sacrifice to the Great Old One, and in his anger he took the lives of all those that lived there. Now Stillwater is a name spoken in hushed tones, and the Stillwater Tribe do not speak at all. They're frozen inhuman creatures, not truly alive in the sense that they once were, living only to kill, killing only to feast on warm flesh and blood. They are considered cursed even amongst others that follow Ithaqua - "Stillwater runs deep" is a warning to others not to fail the Great Old One. Ithaqua is known to exist beyond this planet, having much to do with a planet called Borea. In fact it is in an alternative dimension, a parallel universe in which the Great Old One was once imprisoned. It seems now that this prison is now used by Ithaqua for his own ends, and he deposits many of those he takes to this isolated sphere, where Ithaqua's cult The Children of the Winds holds sway. It is rare that these cultists ever return to earth, but in pre-Fall times there were a few records of telepaths able to pick up on the thoughts of those abducted. The Silberhutte Files sit in a Polity vault somewhere, but have been studied by curious party members with access to such sensitive material. A few of them, The Seekers, are currently attempting to use these files to contact Borea, be it through some sort of telepathy or by utilising Acton Gate technology. The Seekers are very close to making headway in their goal. Although not cultists by any stretch of the imagination, what they are seeking to do may prove just as dangerous to the remaining humans on this planet. YIG Yig is one of the few Great Old Ones who seems to take an interest in sentient life on this planet, and has shown an almost benevolent attitude towards those who treat the god, and the snakes that serve him, with reverence. Still, Yig has much in common with the snakes, including a necessity to strike when hungry, to react when threatened. Yig may be protective, but he is not comforting. He may be intelligent, but he is not kind. If he were to display any traits that might be recognised in a human it would be a sense of malice visited on those that hurt those precious to him, a vengeance on those that dare disrespect him. Yig, believed by some to be bound beneath K'n-yan, in the Pit of Ngoth, has greatest sway over the continent of Amerika. In K'n-yan he was worshiped alongside Cthulhu (or 'Tulu'), being regarded as the principle of life symbolized as the Father of all Serpents. He seems to have influence amongst many of the more dangerous tribes roaming the wilderness - even some that have had no experience of the Cthulhu Mythos have heard of the ancient spirit Yig. He is known as a bad spirit, or a trickster god, whom it is a mistake to cross. To most of these superstitious people this means nothing more than giving snakes a wide birth, taking care not to harm them. In some cases it may include leaving small sacrifices to them. But these are not Yig worshipers, not in the sense we would recognise cultists. Of those that do worship the Great Old One there is no bigger concentration than that centred around the Dakota Plains Tribe, who recognise Yig as the father figure in a hierachy that includes his 'sons', Han and 'serpent bearded' Byatis. This tribe have turned from simply seeking to placate Yig to raising him to the level of supreme god that oversees all. They seek him strength in defining their border against other tribes, and in survival in these harsh times. For the most part they are not too dangerous. Yig himself is normally benevolent towards mankind, so the old legends speak. But as the nights grow longer, the tribes turn more hostile, driven by an unsateable hunger than seems to infect all of Yig's subjects during the autumn months. Yig's second greatest hold seems to be in Africa, particularly around Egypt where he may be recognised as Set. Set is masks frequently worn by both Yig and Nyarlathotep, but the latter seems to enjoy popularity under the guise of the Black Pharaoh in the cults huddled in the Nile Empire's dark underbelly, whilst those who seek guidance in the harsh wilderness beyond civilisation often find that Yig-as-Set addresses the more immediate concerns of food and survival. These worshipers usually group together for survival, calling themselves The House of Seth, and are believed to hold at least one large oasis at the edge of the storms that sometimes strike across Africa. They are usually hospitable to strangers too, although again, there is no guarantee. There are a couple of other Yig cults that have a significant impact on the world in these dark days. One is a tribe that has effectively kept itself hidden in the barren north of the British Isles, like a snake hiding under a stone. The Valusian Serpent People long ago retreated to these shores, devolved into monsters lacking much of the wisdom they once had, replaced with animal cunning. Following the Fall, some of the remnants of these People came into contact with a group of Scottish survivors who had sought survival in an underground system of tunnels tucked away to the east of Edinburgh. Those Serpent People, playing on Viking imagery of the World Serpent Jörmungandr, subverted the humans to their will, fooling them that they survived the passing of Ragnarok thanks only to their allegiance to the Great Old One. They remain, for the most part, underground, knowing that their god was slain in the great battle, curious as to what the new world will bring. Furthermore, the Serpent People have cohabited with them, creating a terrible mockery of both races. These creatures, that call themselves The Autumn People, are rarely seen outside the elaborate and relatively modern tunnel systems they inhabit, but come autumn a feverish hunger surfaces, bringing them into violent conflict with the small communities nearby. Frequently the Polity has heard no trace of a settlement, and sending investigators find no-one left alive, presumably the victims of northern pirates. Finally there are those who have fallen foul to the Curse of Yig, individuals who have been driven mad by visions of snakes, or seen the god coming for them when he has no need to do so. More horrible still are those woman who've found themselves pregnant, belly swollen by Yig's unholy offspring, something not quite human and not quite serpent, but close enough to both to terrify the viewer. Some of those driven mad have had little understanding of Yig, but one Polity officer, having once had access to some of the restricted books that reside in Polity vaults, particularly the Vatican Codex, knew that Yig's coming warned of the end-times. Whilst the passages seem to contradict much else of what is written about Yig, Lieutenant James Mooreson has found similar victims across Europe that are willing to join him in watching for the signs. On the last day of every October these Heralds of Yig meet, each sacrificing another soul in their place, to placate the hunger of the terrible Great Old One.